Has This Been The Cloudiest Year in Maine’s History?

If you've ever seen the movie Groundhog Day starring Bill Murray, it features his character reliving the same day over and over again. While that's hilarious to watch on a screen, it's far less hilarious to live through.

In terms of weather, it has felt like the movie Groundhog Day in Maine for about the last 8 months. It's been rare to get a string of sunny days, even more rare to get anything resembling a heat wave.

Instead, the weather has been mostly the same. Lots of cloud cover, gray skies and seemingly always a chance for some sort of precipitation.

So has this already been the cloudiest year in Maine's history?

More Than Two Centuries Ago, Maine Had a 'Year Without a Summer'

While the last several months have been particular tough to enjoy, this hasn't been the worst stretch of consistent cloud cover in Maine's History. Not even close.

According to News Center Maine, the cloudiest year in Maine's history was 1816. It has been deemed as the "year without a summer" in Maine. Persistent cloud cover and precipitation dogged Maine and actually caused a mass exodus amongst the population.

Maine Saw Cold Summer Temperatures and Piles of Snow in 1816

The 'year without a summer' wasn't just a weather anomaly, it was caused in part by a huge volcanic eruption in Argentina. The soot and ash spewed into the jet stream and delivered an added layer of cover into the stratosphere.

The consequences were severe. Maine people reported that as much as 18 inches of snow was still on the ground in June. Temperatures regularly sat 7 degrees below normal.

Even worse, because of typical cloud cover mixed with volcanic debris, Maine's population rarely saw a singularly sunny day for the entire year in 1816.